Tyrol in Spring

Much like Utah, the Alps offer up a tremendous diversity of recreational opportunities in the spring months due to the large elevation differences and diverse microclimates. 

The Inn Valley and the south-facing slopes of the Nordkette ridge immediately north of Innsbruck are green with just a few patches of snow hanging in the high elevations.  One can get off work and go for a hike to one of several mountain huts or alms on the lower- and mid-elevation slopes of the Nordkette.  Directly above our apartment we can climb about 550 vertical meters to Umbruggler Alm for lunch, dinner, or strudel.  

Similar to the Salt Lake Valley, the views right now are of green valleys and snow capped mountains.  One difference is that things will probably stay green in the low elevations through the summer because it actually rains here.  

The next day I skied at Ischgl, which reaches to about 2800 meters elevation, and is fully interconnected with Samnaun in Switzerland.  Below shows the valley route from the top of the ridge that divides the two resorts down to the village of Samnaun.  

Once the snow softened a bit, we did a good deal of off-piste skiing on the Ischgl side.  This is below the Piz Val Gronda cable car.  I jokingly called this run "Little Snowbird." 

One reason for that is my friend Samu calls this one "Little Alta."

A highlight for the day was skiing down a very long and completely untracked gully that skied like butter.  Spring snow can be wonderful like that.  The bottom though got a little thin.  We slalomed through the rocks and then had to do a mixture of hiking and skiing to get out.  

Ischgl is a hard partying resort with a skiing problem.  At 2300 meters they have a concert stage setup for their Top of the Mountain concerts. 

If you miss Frank at Alta, this might be a good fall back.  I grabbed that photo off the web.  My multi-resort pass is not good on Ischgl concert days, not that I care.   

Source: https://www.top.tirol/news-tourismus/konzertreihe-bringt-ischgl-millionen

Finally, when the knees are cranky, a great thing to do from Innsbruck is take a 40 minute train ride to Seefeld.  The train climbs up the steeply sloped north wall of the Inn Valley and offers up great views.  

You'll find many older Tyroleans on the train as there's a lot of low angle walking in the Seefeld area.  You can walk for many miles if you like or just a few.  There's plenty of views to be had from the open areas around Seefeld.  One of the more famous views is of the Seekirche Catholic Church right on the edge of town.